Cycling the Bay Area & Stories from the Garden

And I wonder; still I wonder…

Another week of rainy weather has left my garden green and very happy! However, this gardener would be quite happy to see the rains pass as I have not been able to do much other than watch the rain, which in itself is not a terrible thing but, I really wanted to get out on the bike this weekend and get some miles under me. Oh well, maybe next weekend.

Miss Poinsettia soaks in the goodness!

‘Long as I remember the rain been comin’ down Clouds of mystery pourin’ confusion on the ground. Good men through the ages tryin’ to find the sun. And I wonder still I wonder who’ll stop the rain.’

– John Fogerty; CCR, 1970

The houseplants all got to take a nice trip outside and enjoy a day/night of nature’s watering and they all are much happier and much more perky for their outdoor adventure.

Schefflera and Dracena enjoying the rain

The mini-Dracena are also enjoying the downpour!

I was listening to a local news broadcast today and was somewhat surprised to learn that even with over a week of near-constant rainfall; triggering mudslides, flooding, and sending rescue crews statewide scrambling to rescue people from swollen rivers and aqueducts, the State of California’s drought worries are far from over. It made me wonder just how much rain it would take to get California back to ‘normal‘ water levels?

The Government’s answer was clear in an article by Sharon Bernstein, featured on Reuters.com:

“Despite these recent storms, it would still have to rain every other day until around May to reach average precipitation totals, and even then we would still be in a drought due to the last two dry years,” stated Richard Stapler, spokesman for theCalifornia Natural Resources Agency.

Out State Water Agencies were quoted in an article by Ari Phillips, found on Think Progress.org:

According to Tim Quinn, executive director of the Association of California Water Agencies; “If the drought created an empty gallon jug for us, this storm created a cup and half of water, we would need 20 of those.”

With images like the one below now being the norm for California’s watersheds; reservoirs; and tributaries, drought is a reality that we in California will have to live with until rainfall levels can bring us back to pre-2012 levels.